Our Service Model

Please note that the Advocacy Drop-In Clinic will be closed from Thursday 20 December and will re-open on Monday 7 January 2019.

You can still contact us via the web form below, and we will be able to assist you over email until 4pm on Thursday 20 December. We return to the office on Wednesday 2 January, and will respond to all web form inquiries received after this date.

For your reference, both the Student Union and the University are closed from Friday 21 December 2018 until 2 January 2019, with all administrative processes ceasing during this time.

We operate from a self-help paradigm, where we seek to empower and equip students to deal with their matter themselves via the provision of policy and strategic advice, and feedback. In some instances, such as for formal University hearings, we also provide advocacy and representation.

We see building students’ capacity to negotiate the systems and processes involved in a University education, as part of that education.

The Service is primarily delivered by four full time professional advocates, and a Student Services Officer. The Service is available to over 60 000 enrolled students, so the demand on our Service can be extremely high at times. For this reason, and to ensure everyone seeking assistance gets the most appropriate and timely assistance, we use the following process:

To get the ball rolling, you can either:

contact us via the form below and you will receive a response within one working day; OR

attend a 10-15 minute consultation during our Drop-in Clinic between 2-4 PM Monday to Thursdayon Level 4 Union House at the Parkville campus.

The first contact allows us to provide immediate preliminary advice, and if necessary, to assess the best way to provide further assistance to you. For this reason, providing detailed information regarding your issue, the steps you have taken to resolve it to date, and including as much relevant documentation as possible will assist us to respond quickly and effectively. Relevant documentation may be letters that your faculty have sent you, copies of emails or other correspondence, and/or support documents from a health care practitioner, psychologist or counsellor.

If you are responding to a notice from the University, or submitting a complaint/grievance, in the first instance we may provide you with preliminary advice via email to assist you to begin a rough draft. We can then review and provide feedback on this over email in order to make best use of appointment times.

We close for some public holidays and over the Christmas/New Year break.

Please note: We are currently experiencing a very high demand on the service, so we are encouraging students to make a start on drafting submissions in the first instance, which we can then provide feedback on.

If you are contacting us because you have received a Show Cause notice to attend a meeting, or want to appeal a decision made by this Committee, you should read the information on our Show Cause website which relates to this process before filling in the form below.

The first thing you need to do is make a start on your submission, because the most effective way for us to provide you with timely feedback is over email.

In order for us to assist you we will need to see a copy of your Student Record Card and the CAPC Report (for appeals). You should receive a copy of your Student Record Card around the same time as the invitation, quite possibly in a separate email within three business days of your invitation, however if you haven’t received a copy within this time, and have a deadline for a submission that will not allow you sufficient time to review this, you can request a copy by emailing the Academic Progress team.

To request a copy of your CAPC Report, you should follow the instructions on the Academic Board’s website to request this from the Academic Progress team.

Once we have received your draft submission and the relevant paperwork we will be best placed to provide you detailed feedback via email and discuss how we can assist you prepare for a hearing.

Once you have submitted the paperwork, and after you have utilised the resources outlined above, if you have any remaining quick questions about this process you may visit our service for a 10 minute consultation between 2pm – 4pm, Monday – Thursday. Please note there may be some delays in speaking to someone as this is an incredibly busy time of semester for the service.

Please don’t forget to hit submit when you have filled out the form! You should receive a confirmation email after successful submission.

Email Address*

Please make sure your email address is correct - or we can't respond to your enquiry!

Given name*

Preferred name (if different)

Family name*

Student Number*

Phone number*

Faculty*

What Faculty or Graduate School are you enrolled in? If you are not currently a student, put 'None'

International Student?*

Yes

No

Not applicable

Are you on an international student visa? If you are not currently a student, select 'Not applicable'.

Type of study*

Undergraduate

Graduate Coursework

RHD

Not applicable

Are you an undergraduate, graduate coursework or research higher degree student? If you are not currently a student, select 'Not applicable'.

Do you have any disabilities you would like us to know about?

Please let us know if we need to make any arrangements for your access to the service

Where did you hear about us?*

How would you prefer to receive advice from us?*

Email

Telephone

Live chat / Instant message

In person

Please note - this form does not create an appointment - we will be in contact via email to arrange a time to provide assistance.

Do you have an imminent deadline or is it an otherwise time sensitive matter?*

e.g. you need to respond to an allegation or notice, or lodge an appeal by a certain date. You have a meeting coming up which you need advice about. If there is no deadline or urgency, put 'no'.

Can we contact you later to evaluate the service you received from us?*

Yes

No

We conduct a short online survey annually for quality assurance and accountability purposes.

Which process or part of the University does your matter relate to?*

This helps us understand what sort of assistance you may need

Does your matter concern a complaint about a particular aspect of the University?*

What part of the University does your matter relate to?That is, if you have a complaint or dispute, what part of the university is it about? If you have received a notice from the University about misconduct of show cause, who sent it to you? If you can give us this information it will assist us to provide more definitive advice, if you don't know, select "Not sure".

If your matter relates to a specific subject or Faculty (other than your own, please specify)

Please indicate the subject name and/or code if your matter relates to one or more specific subjects.

Your issue or problem*

Please tell us about the issue you need assistance with, how you have already tried to address it and attach any relevant documents below.

Attach any relevant documents here

Attach any relevant documents here

Attach any relevant documents here

Attach any relevant documents here

Attach any relevant documents here

Attach any relevant documents here

Privacy Statement*

I Agree

The Advocacy Service is a department of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU). The UMSU Advocacy Service manages personal and health information in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), and the Student Union Advocacy Service Confidentiality Policy. The information that we collect assists us to confirm your student status, contact and assist you, and is also aggregated into non-identifying statistics that facilitate our internal planning and review processes. We hold information on digital and paper based records, and take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information is accurate and complete and protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access or disclosure. We will not disclose personal or health information to anyone without your permission, or unless permitted, or required by law. Should you wish to access information that we hold about you at any time, you may request access by speaking to the Manager, Advocacy & Legal. The information that we collect is stored securely for seven years and then destroyed. Our privacy policy is available on request. By submitting this form, you agree to be bound by this statement.